Reports have been coming in about potential leaks of the Windows 10 source code online. Microsoft stepped up to confirm these reports adding up to 32TB of data uploaded to betaarchive.com, according to The Register.
The bulk of the 32TB amounted to internal builds but there were also big chunks of the OS source code in the leaked information. According to Microsoft, however, the information that leaked isn’t the complete source code but only a portion of it. To be more precise, it’s a portion that was meant for partners and OEMs.
The Shared Source Kit
It’s hard to estimate whether or not this huge leak in size is also that huge in terms of damage or gravity. It’s worth mentioning that the leaked information is part of the company’s Shared Source Kit, which definitely puts the entire incident in a more ambiguous space. That being said, there’s no doubt that Microsoft would have preferred there were no leaks at all.
Base drivers and PnP
Microsoft might be trying to downplay the situation as The Register also notes that the leak contains the base drivers that Windows 10 provides for hardware. On top of that, the PnP code for Microsoft’s software can also be found through the leaked information. The list of hardware related software continues, with leaked information for storage, USB and WiFi being found as well.
Stories don’t match
As mentioned previously, it is believed by some parties that the total amount of leaked information is 32TB. However, there’s a big problem as far as that’s concerned, at least according to Beta Archive/ They’ve taken down the leak and claimed that they would be thoroughly investigating its contents. They’ve also mentioned that the size of the leak was off and that it only contained the 12 released within a folder. Here’s the official statement was given by the website, which puts off the previous claims from The Register about a 32TB leak:
First of all, let us clear up a few facts. The “Shared Source Kit” folder did exist on the FTP until this article came to light. We have removed it from our FTP and listings pending further review just in case we missed something in our initial release. We currently have no plans to restore it until a full review of its contents is carried out and it is deemed acceptable under our rules.
The folder itself was 1.2GB in size, contained 12 releases each being 100MB. This is far from the claimed “32TB” as stated in The Register’s article, and cannot possibly cover “core source code” as it would be simply too small, not to mention it is against our rules to store such data.
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